Welcome to our newsletter, bringing you all the latest from the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government. In this newsletter, we bring you a detailed update on what has been happening throughout the last month and details of upcoming activities.
If you have any queries regarding any of the content within this newsletter, please get in touch.
Launch of the Digital Strategy for Scotland Vision Statement and Digital Public Services Plan.
The Digital Strategy for Scotland Vision Statement co-written by Local Government (represented by COSLA and the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government) and the Scottish Government is now live.
It sets out our shared ambition to build a nation where digital connects our people to opportunities, creates economic growth and delivers improved public services.
How we are going to achieve our Strategic vision will be set out in subject-specific delivery plans. The plans will detail what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we will measure our progress and impact.
The Digital Public Services Plan is the first of these plans. This plan sets out the actions we are taking to deliver sustainable digital public services, contributing to Public Service Reform and make real our strategic vision.
Both the Digital Strategy for Scotland Vision Statement and the Digital Public Services Delivery Plan (2025 - 2028) are now available to read on the Digital Office Resource Centre.
The Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland (2025 - 2030).
We’re proud to be part of the CyberScotland Partnership as the Scottish Government unveils the refreshed Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland.
The updated framework sets out a shared vision that Scotland thrives by being a digitally secure and resilient nation.
Read more and see how we’re working together to build a resilient and secure future for us all.
Celebrating Local Government Excellence: COSLA Announces 2025 Award Winners.
Eight Councils from across Scotland have been announced winners of the 2025 COSLA Excellence Awards at its Annual Conference and Exhibition on Thursday 13th November.
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The COSLA Excellence awards are the annual celebration of the innovation, dedication, and essential work of Scotland’s local government teams and partners in delivering vital services to communities every day.
Find out more about the winners and projects in the release below.
National Training Platform: Discovery Session Update.
Thank you to everyone who joined our National Training Platform Discovery Session on 10 November. For those that were unable to attend, here’s what you need to know:
Purpose
Exploring a shared Learning Management System for Scottish councils, in collaboration with the Society of Personnel Development Scotland (SPDS), COSLA and National Education Scotland (NES) to reduce duplication and improve workforce development.
Current Landscape
93% of responding councils use an LMS, but face issues with reporting, HR integration, accessibility, and analytics.
Average annual LMS cost of responding councils: £13,855.
Options Under Consideration
Turas (NES): refreshed under the Digital Learning Infrastructure Programme for health and social care, potential alignment for local government.
Cornerstone: soft-launched at COSLA, offering SCORM content, mobile access, learning pathways.
Updated Mapping: review existing LMS systems to identify best value and explore collaborative procurement for a national platform with co-developed mandatory training.
Key Requirements
HR integration, reporting dashboards, mobile access (WCAG 2.2A), mandatory training hosting, learning passports, and flexibility for local customisation.
Next Steps
Councils to update Miro board by 2 December with comments and LMS mapping.
Arrange demos for Cornerstone and Turas.
Gather detailed requirements and start business case development.
Explore collaborative procurement and content standardisation.
If you are interested in finding out more about this work, please get in touch with Verity Hislop.
Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the recent session on 11 November. Your input was invaluable in moving us closer to a unified approach for AI Policy Principles across Scottish local authorities. For those that were unable to attend, here’s what you need to know:
Key Highlights:
Policy Consolidation & Core Principles Agreement on foundational principles: ethical use, human oversight, data protection, security, transparency, and accountability.
Training & Communication Agreement for mandatory AI training for staff and elected members, supported by clear guidance and learning platforms.
Risk Management & Governance Adoption of a risk-based governance model to address legal, regulatory, and cybersecurity obligations.
Collaboration & Shared Resources Councils committed to exploring collaborative procurement, shared templates, and co-designed tools for efficiency.
Integration with National Strategy Alignment with the Digital Strategy for Scotland and health/social care frameworks for consistency.
Next Steps
Finalise and circulate core policy principles for feedback.
Consolidate drafts into a unified AI policy for local government.
Develop a vendor-neutral AI framework to ensure interoperability.
Roll out mandatory training.
Establish working groups for collaborative procurement and shared templates.
Map guidance to ICO, LGA, EHRC, and NHS frameworks for compliance.
Thank you for helping us progress towards a “Once for Scotland” approach. If you would like further information or to join the community, co-led by City of Edinburgh, Perth & Kinross and Renfrewshire Councils, please contact Verity Hislop.
Insights Required: M365 Azure Spend Data.
Over the past couple of months, we have been working with Crown Commercial Services (CCS) and Scottish Government to explore an opportunity with CCS to secure a higher discount tier on Azure consumption. One organisation has offered to act as the commercial lead, which is great news. This still needs formal confirmation and business case approval, but progress is positive.
To move this forward, we need a clear picture of current Azure spend across Scottish councils. Thank you to everyone who has completed the form so far. If you have not yet done so, please submit your figures by Friday 12 December using the form link below. This will help us prepare for upcoming discussions with Scottish Government and strengthen the case for sector-wide savings. If you have any questions, please get in touch with Euan Miller.
Several councils have now submitted their requirements and are actively participating in the latestaggregated procurement framework for Microsoft licences. This exercise, coordinated by the Digital Office, Scotland Excel and the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), aims to deliver costavoidances and time savings for councils which have Microsoft enrolments due between April and September 2026.
These aggregations for Microsoft licences have been running quarterly since 2021 and continue to make a saving on the reseller (Microsoft LSP) margin of 2-4.74% on average compared to market pricing. Participating in the procurement process imposes no obligation to commit to the successful bidder.
If your organisation has Microsoft licences expiring in late 2026, please contact Euan Miller to ensure your council is included in any future aggregated procurement processes.
Managing Pupil Devices and M365 Education Tenancies.
Recent discussions with councils have focused on managing pupil devices in Intune and the move to separate M365 Education tenancies.
Councils face challenges with licensing, identity management and generic accounts for younger pupils, as well as planning for potential system changes and/or developments.
Key issues include inconsistent licensing guidance, security, governance and the need for national support and collaboration.
Next steps are to clarify licensing and migration, map tenancy models and set up user groups to reduce workload and share best practice. If you have not attended the sessions, but think this would be helpful to you, please get in touch with
Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership Awarded Platinum Digital Telecare Implementation Award.
Congratulations are in order for Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership as they have been awarded the prestigious Platinum Digital Telecare Implementation Award by Digital Telecare for Scottish Local Government.
This recognition celebrates the successful transition of all service users from analogue to digital telecare, with the service operating seamlessly for over eight weeks.
Supporting around 3,600 individuals and housing schemes, the Partnership’s integrated, person-centred approach helps people live more independently at home, reducing the need for hospital or long-term care admissions. The award reflects the dedication, collaboration, and resilience of the teams involved, who have prioritised community needs throughout the project.
Anthony Clark, TEC Programme Manager, praised the achievement as a testament to the power of partnership and a shared vision focused on residents’ needs. The organisation remains committed to building on this progress and using digital telecare to drive further innovation in service delivery for the benefit of everyone in Perth and Kinross.
Take a moment to explore the brand new resources we have added to the Resource Centre this month! Not signed up yet? Register now to unlock full access and stay up to date with the latest resources.
Please note: you must be logged in to the Resource Centre for the below links to work and take you directly to the resources.
Highland Council Digital Week: Recordings Now Available.
Hosted in partnership with the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government, Highland Council’s Digital Week brought together leaders, practitioners, and innovators to explore the pillars of the Digital Maturity Assessment (DMA) and showcase progress, tools, and opportunities for transformation.
Catch up on key sessions now on the Resource Centre:
Digital Leadership: Mel Ross (Adapt2Digital) on why it’s time to own our digital pathway.
Data & AI Literacy: The importance of strategic data and AI literacy with the Data Literacy Academy.
Service Design for All: Overview of service design, exploring its purpose, principles, and practical applications across industries from the Service Design Academy.
Community Health Index (CHI): Ruth Griffith on using CHI numbers to improve Health & Social Care delivery.
Capacity for Change: Scottish Digital Academy on Agile, DDaT roles, and training opportunities.
New Guidance: Communicating during a Cyber Incident.
At the latest Digital Leaders meeting, our Chief Information Security Officer, David Ritchie shared a paper on best practices for organisations to effectively communicate during a cyber incident.
This guidance is now available in the Resource Centre and outlines best practices for clear, effective communication before, during, and after a cyber incident.
M365 Information Governance Guidance: Refreshed Labelling and Classification Guidance Document.
We have published an updated version of the Labelling and Classification Guidance document. This revised edition includes extra details specifically regarding Copilot labelling, ensuring councils have the most up-to-date information for managing data securely and compliantly.
Coming Soon: M365 Information Governance Guidance Documents.
The Team have been working on the next set of M365 guidance documents for councils, focusing on Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) and information sharing. These have now been finalised and will be published on the Resource Centre in due course.
The final five documents covering: litigation and e-discovery, information rights and types management, email and communications and data ownership are currently being distributed among the wider Information Governance Subject Matter Expert group for review. This collaborative approach ensures that the documents will be relevant and practical for all users.
We anticipate publishing the final five documents before the holiday season begins, marking completion of the M365 Information Governance workstream.
Upcoming Events & Opportunities.
Digital Leadership Webinar- Pioneering Digital Telecare: Harnessing data and digital to unlock innovation - 10th December 2025.
Digital Leadership Webinar- Pioneering Digital Telecare: Harnessing data and digital to unlock innovation
On the 10th December, David Brown, Colin McFadyen, and Sam Leonard will be speaking at the Digital Leadership Webinar, sharing insights under the theme “Pioneering Digital Telecare: Harnessing data and digital to unlock innovation.”
The session will showcase our ongoing work supporting the transition from analogue to digital telecare, including the development and implementation of the Shared Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) and our dedicated data project stream.
Attendees will gain an understanding of the background and evolution of digital telecare in Scotland, the benefits of collaborative approaches, and how harnessing data is driving service improvement and innovation.
This is a valuable opportunity to learn from leaders at the forefront of digital transformation in health and social care.
Join us at DigiFest Scotland 2025, the flagship national conference for digital health and social care, taking place on Thursday, 11 December in Glasgow.
Organised by the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre and delivered in partnership with the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland, in association with Futurescot as our event delivery partner, DigiFest is the official event for everyone shaping the future of health and care across Scotland. From NHS teams to social care providers, housing and third sector organisations, local authorities, Health & Social Care Partnerships and research communities—this is your space to connect, share, and lead.
This year, DigiFest arrives at a critical moment.
December 2025 marks the start of the national rollout of the Digital Front Door programme—beginning in NHS Lanarkshire. This transformative initiative will revolutionise how citizens access health and social care services, giving people easier, faster and more intuitive digital pathways to the care and support they need.
Whether you’re delivering services on the frontline, designing better systems behind the scenes, or researching the next generation of care models, DigiFest is where it all comes together.
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